Wegner: No title slip-up this time

ARSENE WENGER has insisted the hurt of throwing away the title last season will ensure Arsenal do not allow their nine-point lead to slip through their grasp this time around.

Twelve months ago, after beating Charlton at Highbury, Arsenal held an eight-point advantage over Manchester United, albeit having played an extra game.

Alex Ferguson's team, nevertheless, still won the title and while United are in nowhere near such good form, Wenger will seek to ensure his side taking nothing for granted.

He will ignore any attempts to unsettle him in the next couple of months, with Claudio Ranieri having thrown in the towel, while Ferguson maintains one third of the season remains.

Wenger, whose side defeated Charlton 2-1, said: "I'm not worried about any of that. I can understand that he (Ferguson) says that but what's important is what we do here and not what other people say. We are intelligent and focused enough to know that.

"I have players who have the experience of last season. I don't think complacency is a threat we face.

"I don't need to remind the players of last season what you feel in your soul is stronger than any speech. We were hurt last year.

"I don't think we were complacent then but these things can happen. United had an outstanding run and kept on winning. It can happen again but the only thing we can do is focus on the next game."

Not that United are showing any signs of putting together an imposing run, with Arsenal instead having embarked on the sort of post-Christmas surge which took them to doubles in 1998 and 2002.

Arsenal striker Dennis Bergkamp is certainly not getting too carried away, while admitting he had been "surprised" at United having conceded an equaliser at Fulham to drop two more points.

"We're in a zone where we just concentrate on ourselves but sometimes you get positive things from outside like United drawing. It's helpful but we're just thinking of our own game," he added.

There was still an element of controversy over both of Arsenal's goals on Saturday, with Charlton boss Alan Curbishley again raising the spectre of changes to the offside law.

"It's causing all sorts of problems. Forwards like Henry and Ruud van Nistelrooy are taking full advantage."

Patrick Vieira believes he and his Arsenal team-mates will win the Champions League in the next three years.

Speaking on French TV channel TF1, Vieira declared his faith in the prospects of the London club.

"I don't ask questions about my future because my future is at Arsenal.

"People think, I have no ambition but it is not true. My ambition is to win with Arsenal. I think Arsenal can win the Champions League in the next three years."